Conservation in Bhutan

Bhutan is a small landlocked nation located in the southern slopes of the Eastern Himalayas. To its north lies the great Tibet Autonomous Region of China and to the west, south and east lies the Indian states of Sikkim, Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

The terrain is mostly rugged with huge variations in altitude ranging from 150 to more than 7,500 meters high. Despite the variations, Bhutan is known to host more than 770 species of birds; 5,400 species of plants and almost 200 species of mammals throughout the Kingdom.

Known for its proactive conservation initiatives, Bhutan has designated more than a half (51.32%) of its territory as national parks and reserves, nine percent of land area as corridors linking protected areas. Together, this network of protected areas is called Bhutan Biological Conservation Complex (B2C2).

However, at the same time, Bhutan has also rightly recognized that it cannot ignore some of the pressing challenges that will arise in the coming years with increasing population and developmental needs. The tiny country is already observing emerging negative impacts of hydro-power development, industrialization, and urbanization.

To tackle these issues and achieve conservational balance in the country, WWF Bhutan has classified its projects into four broad themes, which are as follows: